Israeli airstrike in Gaza kills 2 Palestinian militants

USPA News - The Israeli military carried out an airstrike in the northern Gaza Strip on Monday, killing at least two Palestinian militants and injuring two others who were allegedly preparing to launch a rocket across the border, officials said early Tuesday. "An IAF aircraft targeted Gaza terrorists preparing to launch rockets at southern Israel," said Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) spokesman Lt.

Col. Peter Lerner. "The IDF mission was carried out in order to eliminate an imminent attack targeting civilian communities of southern Israel." The Palestinian news agency Ma`an reported that the airstrike targeted a group of Palestinians in the northern Gaza city of Beit Hanoun, killing 21-year-old militant Musab Moussa al-Zaaneen and injuring two others. A second militant died of his injuries later on Monday evening. It was not immediately known to which militant group they belong to. "IDF intelligence, operational capability and determination to eliminate a real-time threat keeps Israelis safe in their homes," Lerner added. "This is our obligation and commitment to the civilians in the south of Israel." Militant rocket attacks on Israel and Israeli airstrikes on Gaza occur frequently. In late December, a 22-year-old Israeli man was killed by a Gazan sniper while carrying out maintenance along the Israel-Gaza border fence, prompting a series of Israeli airstrikes across the Gaza Strip that resulted in the death of a Palestinian toddler, making it the region`s worst day of violence in months. The violence on December 24 marked the first killing of an Israeli civilian in the vicinity of the Gaza Strip since November 2012, when an Israeli offensive set off eight days of fierce cross-border fighting. At least 174 Palestinians and 6 Israelis were killed while hundreds more were injured until an Egyptian-brokered truce was reached with Palestinian militants.